System and methods for providing location-based upcoming event information using a client-side web application implemented on a client device

ABSTRACT

System and methods for providing location-based upcoming event information using a client-side web application implemented on a client device are described. The location-based upcoming event information may be provided to users of an online secondary ticket marketplace using a client-side web application implemented as desktop or mobile widget or within a web browser toolbar. The client-side web application may be configured to communicate with a network-based system that provides online marketplace and ticket fulfillment services and generate a query based upon the location of a user and other event criteria. The client-side web application may communicate the query to the network-based system and, in response, receive location-based upcoming event information which may be displayed to a user as a list and/or information on a map. The client-side web application may display an aggregate of ticket inventory available from multiple online marketplaces providing the user with multiple purchasing options.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/275,783 filed Nov. 21, 2008, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Computer systems and networks have facilitated the tasks of buying,selling and transferring goods. For example, global computer networks,such as the Internet, have allowed purchasers to relatively quickly andefficiently seek and purchase goods online. Similarly, global computernetworks provide an efficient and cost-effective medium for sellers toadvertise, offer, provide, and sell their goods. Electronic commercecompanies provide buyers and sellers with online services and theinfrastructure to accept orders of goods from remote purchasers, toperform the financial transactions necessary to confirm and complete thesale of goods, to ship or distribute the goods to remote purchasers, andto perform other related logistics. For these reasons, sellers activelyuse the Internet to offer, sell and distribute a wide variety of goodsto take advantage of the many benefits provided by the Internet andelectronic commerce.

One example of a market for goods within the realm of electroniccommerce is the secondary ticket market. The secondary ticket marketencompasses all instances in which live event tickets trade after theoriginal point of purchase. This market exists for several reasons.First, event tickets have an especially time-sensitive nature. Numeroustickets expire unused each year because there is no efficient mechanismto buy and/or sell secondary event tickets. When a ticket expires afteran event has passed, it loses all of its intrinsic value. As a result,if the ticket holder cannot attend the event, the only way to realizevalue for a ticket is to sell it in the secondary market. For example,many venues, universities and/or sports franchises offer “seasontickets” which are often packaged in bulk requiring a buyer to purchaseseveral tickets at once. As a result, season ticket holders oftenpossess a number of tickets for events that they cannot attend, andtherefore desire to sell on the secondary market.

Additionally, event venues have only a fixed supply of seating.Therefore, the number of available tickets for a particular event islimited, which means that high-demand events can have significantvolumes of secondary trading. Buyers, who would like to sit only incertain seat locations, further create a supply and demand imbalance.Particularly, each seat location in a venue is totally unique, whichmeans there could be demand for a specific seat location that exceedssupply even when the venue is not sold out in the primary market,thereby favoring the secondary market. Moreover, while tickets forcertain events (e.g., football games of a team in the same venue) may besimilarly priced, the actual supply and demand for such events may besubstantially different, thereby favoring the secondary market.

StubHub provides a network-based system which implements an onlinesecondary ticket marketplace for buyers and sellers of tickets for liveevents such as sports, concerts, theater, and other entertainmentevents. The StubHub online secondary ticket marketplace enableslegitimate, convenient, reliable, and secure transactions at fair marketvalue and provides ticket fulfillment services, even for “sold out”events. Accordingly, the StubHub online secondary ticket marketplaceprovides benefits for fans who wish to buy, sell or otherwise transfersecondary tickets as well as for teams, artists, and venues.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments relate to a system and methods for providinglocation-based upcoming event information using a client-side webapplication implemented on a client device. The location-based upcomingevent information may be provided to users of an online secondary ticketmarketplace using a client-side web application implemented as desktopor mobile widget or within a web browser toolbar. The client-side webapplication may be configured to communicate with a network-based systemthat provides online marketplace and ticket fulfillment services andgenerate a query based upon the location of a user and other eventcriteria. The client-side web application may communicate the query tothe network-based system and, in response, receive location-basedupcoming event information which may be displayed to a user as a listand/or information on a map. The client-side web application may displayan aggregate of ticket inventory available from multiple onlinemarketplaces providing the user with multiple purchasing options. Otherembodiments are described and claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of variousembodiments will become more readily appreciated and better understoodby reference to the following detailed description and the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary communications system including a clientdevice and network-based system for providing online marketplace andticket fulfillment services in accordance with various embodiments.

FIGS. 2-7 illustrate representations of user interfaces displayed on acomputer by client-side web applications for providing location-basedupcoming event information in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a logic flow including operations performed by acomputer executing a client-side web application to providelocation-based upcoming event information in accordance with variousembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments are described for providing users of an onlinesecondary ticket marketplace with the ability to search and viewlocation-based upcoming event information using a client-side webapplication. Numerous specific details are set forth to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be understood bythose skilled in the art, however, that the embodiments may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-knownoperations, components and circuits have not been described in detail soas not to obscure the embodiments. It can be appreciated that thespecific structural and functional details disclosed herein may berepresentative and do not necessarily limit the scope of theembodiments.

Reference throughout the specification to “various embodiments,” “someembodiments,” “one embodiment,” or “an embodiment” means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus,appearances of the phrases “in various embodiments,” “in someembodiments,” “in one embodiment,” or “in an embodiment” in placesthroughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a communications system 100 suitable for implementingvarious embodiments. The elements of the communications system 100generally may comprise physical or logical entities for communicatinginformation and, in some cases, may be implemented as hardware,software, or combination thereof, as desired for a given set of designparameters or performance constraints. Although FIG. 1 includes alimited number of elements for purposes of illustration, it can beappreciated that the communications system 100 may include more or lesselements as well as other types of elements.

Various elements of the communications system 100 may be implementedutilizing one or more computing devices having computing and/orcommunications capabilities in accordance with the describedembodiments. Exemplary computing devices may include, withoutlimitation, a mobile device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), amobile computing device, a communications device, a telephone, a mobiletelephone, a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a handset, a one-waypager, a two-way pager, a messaging device, a computer, a personalcomputer (PC), a desktop computer, a work station, a laptop computer, anotebook computer, a tablet computer, a handheld computer, amini-computer, a network appliance, a web appliance, a server, a servercomputer, a server array, a server farm, an Internet server, a webserver, a network server, a main frame computer, a supercomputer, adistributed computing system, multiprocessor system, processor-basedsystems, a control system, consumer electronic equipment, a mediadevice, a gaming device, a television, a digital television, a set-topbox (STB), wireless access point, base station, subscriber station,mobile subscriber center, radio network controller, a network accessdevice, a telephone network device, a mobile telephone network device, aVoIP network device, a radio network device, a television networkdevice, a satellite network device, a router, a hub, a gateway, abridge, a switch, a machine, or combination thereof.

The computing devices utilized by the communications system 100 may beimplemented by various hardware and/or software components in accordancewith the described embodiments. Exemplary hardware components mayinclude processing devices such as central processing unit (CPU) and/orother processors, microprocessors, application processors, radioprocessors, baseband processors, digital signal processors (DSP),circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors,inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits, application specificintegrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLD), a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), logic gates, registers, semiconductordevice, chips, microchips, chip sets, memory such as volatile and/ornon-volatile memory, a display such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) orcathode ray tube (CRT), input devices such a keyboard, mouse, stylus,touch pad, and/or touch screen, networking devices such as ports,network interface cards (NICs), transmitters, receivers, transceivers,and/or antennas, as well as other components. Exemplary softwarecomponents may include computer programs, applications, applicationprograms, system programs, operating system (OS) software, middleware,firmware, a software interface, a programmatic interface, an applicationprogram interfaces (API), a network interface, a web interface, amessaging interface, modules, instruction sets, routines, subroutines,functions, calls, computing code, or combination thereof.

Various elements of the communications system 100 may support wiredand/or wireless communications functionality in accordance with thedescribed embodiments. For example, some computing devices may bearranged to communicate information over one or more types ofcommunication links such as a wire, cable, bus, printed circuit board(PCB), backplane, switch fabric, semiconductor material, twisted-pairwire, co-axial cable, fiber optic connection, Ethernet connection,peer-to-peer (P2P) connection, a data channel, a radio channel, asatellite channel, a television channel, a broadcast channel, aninfrared (IR) channel, a radio-frequency (RF) channel, a portion of theRF spectrum, one or more licensed or license-free frequency bands, andso forth.

Various elements of the communications system 100 may supportcommunication over one or more types of networks in accordance with thedescribed embodiments. For example, some computing devices and networksmay support communications over a Wide Area Network (WAN), the Internet,a telephone network (e.g., analog, digital, POTS, PSTN, ISDN, xDSL), amobile telephone network (e.g., CDMA, GSM, NDAC, TDMA, E-TDMA, NAMPS,WCDMA, CDMA-2000, UMTS, 3G, 4G), a radio network, a television network,a cable network, an optical network (e.g., PON), a satellite network(e.g., VSAT), a packet-switched network, a circuit-switched network, apublic network, a private network, and/or other wired or wirelesscommunications network configured to carry data. Computing devices andnetworks also may support wireless wide area network (WWAN)communications services including Internet access such as EV-DO, EV-DV,CDMA/1xRTT, GSM/GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, and others.

Computing devices and networks may support wireless local area network(WLAN) and/or wireless metropolitan are network (WMAN) datacommunications functionality in accordance with Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards, protocols, and variants suchas IEEE 802.11 (“WiFi”), IEEE 802.16 (“WiMAX”), IEEE 802.20x(“Mobile-Fi”), and others. Computing devices and networks also maysupport short range communication such as a wireless personal areanetwork (WPAN) communication, Bluetooth® data communication, infrared(IR) communication, near-field communication, electro-magnetic induction(EMI) communication, passive or active RFID communication, micro-impulseradar (MIR), ultra-wide band (UWB) communication, automaticidentification and data capture (AIDC) communication, and others.

Further aspects and advantages of various embodiments will become morereadily appreciated and better understood by the following descriptionof the elements of the communications system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1.Although certain exemplary embodiments and implementations may beillustrated and described as comprising a particular combination ofelements and performing a particular set of operations, it is to beunderstood that the principles and techniques discussed herein are notlimited to such examples.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the communications system 100includes, among other elements, a client 102 which may comprise oremploy one or more client devices 104 such as a mobile computing device,a PC, and/or any other computing device having computing and/orcommunications capabilities in accordance with the describedembodiments. The client devices 104 generally may provide one or moreclient programs 106 such as system programs and application programs toperform various computing and/or communications operations. Exemplarysystem programs may include, without limitation, an operating system(e.g., MICROSOFT® OS, UNIX® OS, LINUX® OS, Symbian OS™, Embedix OS,Binary Run-time Environment for Wireless (BREW) OS, JavaOS, a WirelessApplication Protocol (WAP) OS, and others), device drivers, programmingtools, utility programs, software libraries, application programminginterfaces (APIs), and so forth. Exemplary application programs mayinclude, without limitation, a web browser application, messagingapplications (e.g., e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, telephone, voicemail, VoIP,video messaging), contacts application, calendar application, electronicdocument application, database application, media application (e.g.,music, video, television), location-based services (LBS) application(e.g., GPS, mapping, directions, point-of-interest, locator), and soforth. In some usage scenarios, one or more of the client programs 106may display various graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to presentinformation to and/or receive information from one or more of the clientdevices 104.

As shown, the client 102 is communicatively coupled via one or morenetworks 108 to a network-based system 110. The network-based system 110may be structured, arranged, and/or configured to allow the client 102to establish one or more communications sessions with the network-basedsystem 110 using various computing devices 104 and/or client programs106. Accordingly, a communications session between the client 102 andthe network-based system 110 may involve the unidirectional and/orbidirectional exchange of information and may occur over one or moretypes of networks 108 depending on the mode of communication. While theembodiment of FIG. 1 illustrates the communications system 100 deployedin a client-server operating environment, it is to be understood thatother suitable operating environments and/or architectures may be usedin accordance with the described embodiments.

Data and/or voice communications between the client 102 and thenetwork-based system 110 may be sent and received over one or morenetworks 108 such as the Internet, a WAN, a WWAN, a WLAN, a mobiletelephone network, a landline telephone network, a VoIP network, as wellas other suitable networks. For example, the client 102 may communicatewith the network-based system 110 over the Internet or other suitableWAN by sending and or receiving information via interaction with a website, e-mail, IM session, and/or video messaging session. The client 102also may communicate with the network-based system 110 via a telephonecall to a customer service agent and/or interactive voice response (IVR)system made over a mobile telephone network, a landline network, and/ora VoIP network. In wireless implementations, the client 102 maycommunicate with the network-based system 110 over the Internet via aWLAN or mobile telephone network that supports WWAN communicationsservices. The client 102 also may communicate over a mobile telephonenetwork via SMS and/or MMS messaging. It is to be appreciated that theembodiments are not limited in this regard.

In various usage scenarios, communication sessions and/or messagingbetween the client 102 and the network-based system 110 may involvemultiple modes of communication and/or multiple networks. In some cases,for example, the client 102 may initiate communication with thenetwork-based system 110 by interacting with a web site. In response,the network-based system 110 may communicate with the client 102 in avariety of ways such as via the web site, e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, and/or atelephone call from a customer service agent and/or IVR system. Thecommunication from the network-based system 110 may comprise a message(e.g., e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS) containing relevant static or dynamiccontent, an embedded hyperlinked URL for directing the client 102 to aweb site, and/or a hyperlinked telephone number for allowing the client102 to click and place a telephone call to an agent (e.g., customerservice agent and/or IVR system) of the network-based system 110.

When communicating with the network-based system 110, the client 102 mayemploy one or more client devices 104 and/or client programs 106. Invarious implementations, the client devices 104 and/or client programs106 may host or provide one or more interfaces for communicating withthe network-based system 110. Exemplary interfaces may include a webinterface, an API interface, a messaging interface, and/or othersuitable communication interface in accordance with the describedembodiments. The client programs 106 for communicating with thenetwork-based system 110 may comprise, for example, pre-installed,authored, downloaded, and/or web-based computer programs.

The client programs 106 provided by one or more of the client devices104 (e.g., mobile computing device and/or PC) may include a web client.The web client may comprise, for example, a desktop and/or mobile (e.g.,WAP) web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer®, Mozilla®, Firefox®, Safari®,Opera®, Netscape Navigator®, etc.) capable of rendering web pages (e.g.,HTML documents) and supporting various browser-based web technologiesand programming languages such as HTML, XHTML, CSS, Document ObjectModel (DOM), XML, XSLT, XMLHttpRequestObject, JavaScript, ECMAScript,Jscript, Ajax, Flash®, Silverlight™, Visual Basic® (VB), VB ScriptingEdition (VBScript), PHP, ASP, Java®, Shockwave®, Python, Perl®, C#/.net,and/or others.

In various usage scenarios, the client 102 may use a web client toprovide an interface (e.g., HTTP interface) for navigating to a web siteassociated with the network-based system 110 and for requesting andreceiving web page data from the network-based system 110. For example,the client 102 may use the web client to navigate to a web siteassociated with the network-based system 110 by entering a URL into aweb browser address bar and/or by clicking on a hyperlinked URLdelivered to the client 102 via a web page, web-based application,e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, and/or other delivery mechanism.

As shown in FIG. 1, the communications system 100 includes, among otherelements, a third party 112 which may comprise or employ a third-partyserver 114 hosting a third-party application 116. In variousimplementations, the third-party server 114 and/or third-partyapplication 116 may host a web site associated with or employed by athird party 112 such as an affiliate, partner, or other third-partyentity or user in accordance with the described embodiments. It can beappreciated that, in some implementations, the third party 112 mayprovide the third-party application 116 for promoting, enhancing,complementing, supplementing, and/or substituting for one more servicesprovided by the network-based system 110. For example, the third-partyserver 114 and/or third-party application 116 may enable thenetwork-based system 110 to provide the client 102 with additionalservices and/or information such as additional ticket inventory.

In some usage scenarios, one or more of the client programs 106 may beused to access the network-based system 110 via the third party 112. Forexample, the client 102 may use a web client to access and/or receivecontent from the network-based system 110 after initially communicatingwith a third-party web site. The web site of the third party 112 (e.g.,affiliate, partner) may comprise, for example, a hyperlinkedadvertisement, a web widget, and/or an API implementation comprisingweb-based code within a web page to present static or dynamic contenthosted by the network-based system 110 and/or to provide programmaticaccess to the network-based system 110.

It can be appreciated that the hyperlinked advertisement, web widget,and/or API implementation for communicating with the network-basedsystem 110 may be hosted by various third-party web sites such as anaffiliate web site, a partner web site, an online marketplace web site,an entertainment web site, a sports web site, a media web site, a searchengine web site, a social networking web site, a blog, and/or any othercorporate or personal web site or web page in accordance with thedescribed embodiments. In some cases, the third party 112 may bedirectly or indirectly compensated for directing traffic from thethird-party web site to the web site of the network-based system 110and/or in the event that an electronic commerce transaction resultsafter a user is directed from the third-party web sites to the web siteof the network-based system 110.

The client programs 106 executed by one or more of the client devices104 may include a programmatic client for accessing and communicatingwith the network-based system 110. Along with performing a certain setof functions, the programmatic client may include, for example, animplementation of an API provided by the network-based system 110 forenabling access to and/or communication with various elements (e.g.,servers, databases) of the network-based system 110. In variousembodiments, the API implementation may comprise executable code inaccordance with an SDK provided by the network-based system 110.

In some usage scenarios, the programmatic client may be implemented as astand-alone or web-based database, point-of-sale (POS), and/or inventorymanagement application for managing a large volume of availableinventory and communicating with the network-based system 110. Theprogrammatic client may be employed, for example, by high-volume sellersto author, update, and manage a large number of inventory listings. Insome cases, a high-volume seller may use the programmatic client toperform batch-mode communication with the network-based system 110. Thebatch-mode communication from the high-volume seller may comprise datafor numerous inventory items (e.g., hundreds, thousands) for publicationby the network-based system 110. The programmatic client also may beused to communicate with the network-based systems in real-time. Forexample, communications from the high-volume seller may comprisereal-time inventory updates so that the listings published by thenetwork-based system 110 accurately reflect the available inventory ofthe high-volume seller.

The client programs 106 executed by one or more of the client devices104 (e.g., mobile computing device and/or PC) also may include amessaging client. The messaging client may comprise, for example, anapplication that supports one or more modes of communication such ase-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, telephone, VoIP, video messaging, and so forth. Itcan be appreciated that some messaging clients may required and/orlaunch an Internet connection in the background when executed.

In accordance with various embodiments, the network-based system 110 maycommunicate with and provide services to users such as buyers and/orsellers of goods such as event tickets on a secondary market. Forexample, the network-based system 110 may comprise or implement anonline secondary ticket marketplace for buyers and sellers of ticketsfor live events such as sports, concerts, theater, and otherentertainment events.

It is to be appreciated that goods for purchase and/or sale may includeboth tangible goods (e.g., physical tickets, electronic tickets),intangible goods (e.g., rights and/or licenses that are afforded by thetickets), and other goods in accordance with the described embodiments.It also is to be appreciated that users other than buyers and/or sellersmay communicate with the network-based system 110. In some cases, forexample, the client 102 may be associated with an administrator orcustomer service agent and may communicate with the network-based system110 to monitor, update, and/or otherwise manage one or more computingdevices and/or services of the network-based system 110.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the network-based system110 for providing online secondary ticket marketplace. As shown, thenetwork-based system 110 may comprise or implement a plurality ofservers and/or software components that operate to perform variousmethodologies in accordance with the described embodiments. Exemplaryservers may include, for example, stand-alone and enterprise-classservers operating a server OS such as a MICROSOFT® OS, a UNIX® OS, aLINUX® OS, or other suitable server-based OS. It can be appreciated thatthe servers illustrated in FIG. 1 may be deployed in other ways and thatthe operations performed and/or the services provided by such serversmay be combined or separated for a given implementation and may beperformed by a greater number or fewer number of servers.

In various implementations, the servers of the network-based system 110may comprise or implement software components deployed in a tieredenvironment, where one or more servers are used to host server softwarerunning in each tier. For example, using a three-tiered architecture,one or more server software components may be hosted by front-endservers, one more server software components may be hosted by a middletier or middleware implemented by application servers, and one moreserver software components may be hosted by a back-end tier implementedby databases and/or file systems. In some embodiments, servers of thenetwork-based system 110 may be communicatively coupled with each othervia a local area network (LAN) and/or suitable intranet or back-endnetwork.

The network-based system 110 may comprise one or more communicationsservers 120 for providing suitable interfaces to enable communicationusing various modes of communication and/or via one or more networks108. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the communications servers 112 includea web server 122, an API server 124, and a messaging server 126 toprovide interfaces to one or more application servers 130. Theapplication servers 130 of the network-based system 110 may bestructured, arranged, and/or configured to provide various onlinemarketplace and/or ticket fulfillment services to users that access thenetwork-based system 110.

In various usage scenarios, the client 102 may communicate with theapplications servers 130 of the network-based system 110 via one or moreof a web interface provided by the web server 122, a programmaticinterface provided by the API server 124, and a messaging interfaceprovided by the messaging server 126. It can be appreciated that the webserver 122, the API server 124, and the messaging server 126 may bestructured, arranged, and/or configured to communicate with varioustypes of client devices 104 and/or client programs 106 and mayinteroperate with each other in some implementations.

The web server 122 may be arranged to host web pages (e.g., HTMLdocuments) and provide an appropriate web interface (e.g., HTTP, CGI,etc.) for enabling data to be presented to and received from entitiesvia the Internet. The web server 122 may be arranged to communicate withweb clients and/or applications such as a web browser, web browsertoolbar, desktop widget, mobile widget, web-based application, web-basedinterpreter, virtual machine, and so forth. The web server 122 mayprovide a web interface to enable access by the client 102 and/or thethird party 112 to the various services and functions provided by theapplication servers 130. For example, the web server 122 may be arrangedto receive data from the client 102 and/or third party 112 and to passthe data to one or more application servers 130 within the network-basedsystem 110. The web sever 122 also may present the client 102 and/orthird party 112 with relevant static and dynamic content hosted by thenetwork-based system 110 in response to various requests and/or events.

The API server 124 may be arranged to communicate with various clientprograms 106 and/or a third-party application 116 (e.g., third-party website) comprising an implementation of API for the network-based system110. The API server 124 may provide a programmatic interface to enableaccess by the client 102 and/or the third party 112 to the variousservices and functions provided by the application servers 130. Forexample, the programmatic interface provided by the API server 124 maybe used for batch-mode and/or real-time communication with a high-volumeseller for receiving and updating inventory listings. The programmaticinterface provided by the API server 124 also may be used to communicaterelevant static or dynamic content hosted by the network-based system110 to an API implementation of one or more client programs 106 and/or athird-party application 116 (e.g., third-party web site). The APIimplementation may comprise, for example, executable code in accordancewith a SDK provided by the network-based system 110.

The messaging server 126 may be arranged to communicate with variousmessaging clients and/or applications such as e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS,telephone, VoIP, video messaging, and so forth. The messaging server 126may provide a messaging interface to enable access by the client 102and/or the third party 112 to the various services and functionsprovided by the application servers 130. For example, the messaginginterface provided by the messaging server 126 may be used tocommunicate with the client 102 and/or the third party 112 in a varietyof ways such as via e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, video messaging, and/or atelephone call (e.g., landline, mobile, VoIP) with a customer serviceagent and/or IVR system.

When implemented as an online secondary ticket marketplace, theapplication servers 130 of the network-based system 110 may providevarious online marketplace and ticket fulfillment services including,for example, account services, buying services, selling services,listing catalog services, dynamic content management services, deliveryservices, payment services, and notification services. In the exemplaryembodiment shown in FIG. 1, the application servers 130 may comprise anaccount server 132, a buying server 134, a selling server 136, a listingcatalog server 138, a dynamic content management server 140, a deliveryserver 142, a payment server 144, and a notification server 146,structured and arranged to provide such online marketplace and ticketfulfillment services.

The application servers 130, in turn, may be coupled to and capable ofaccessing one or more databases 150 including a subscriber database 152,an active events database 154, and a transaction database 156. Thedatabases 150 generally may store and maintain various types ofinformation for use by the application servers 130 and may comprise orbe implemented by various types of computer storage devices (e.g.,servers, memory) and/or database structures (e.g., relational,object-oriented, hierarchical, dimensional, network) in accordance withthe described embodiments.

Account Services

The account server 132 implemented by one or more of the applicationservers 130 may allow a user to establish and/or manage a subscriberaccount with the network-based system 110. For example, while someservices provided by the network-based system 110 may be generallyaccessible, a user may be required to access an existing subscriberaccount or register a new subscriber account with the network-basedsystem 110 in order to receive certain customized and/orsubscriber-specific services.

To create a subscriber account, a user may provide the network-basedsystem 110 with account information such as a unique username, e-mailaddress, password, name, location (e.g., address, city, country, and/orzip code), telephone numbers (e.g., home, work, and/or mobile), and/orother required information for identifying and/or authenticating theuser. After receiving the required account information and instructionsfrom the user to create the subscriber account, the network-based system110 may create the subscriber account and store the account informationin the subscriber database 152.

After a subscriber account is created, the user may view and/or makechanges to account information, add or edit existing contacts, retrieveor change the password, view and edit sources of funds and/or financialvalue on file, view and edit payment options, and/or otherwise managethe subscriber account.

To effectuate the buying or selling of goods such as event tickets, theuser may be required to link the subscriber account of to a source offunds and/or financial value for completing different transactions viathe network-based system 110. It can be appreciated that the user mayprovide various types of entities or third-party financial accountscapable of supplying or receiving funds and/or financial value inaccordance with the described embodiments. Exemplary entities and/orthird-party financial accounts may include, without limitation, a bank,bank account, lender, line-of-credit, credit card company, credit cardaccount, debit card, prepaid debit card account, third-party paymentservices account (e.g., PayPal™ account), payroll account, check, moneyorder, or any other suitable source of financial value.

Additionally or alternatively to linking the subscriber account to asource of financial value based on a commercial currency (e.g., U.S.dollar), a user may link to the subscriber account to a source offinancial value based on a proprietary and/or promotional currency(e.g., points, rewards, coupons) capable of accumulation and/orredemption by the user to pay for goods or services. It can beappreciated that multiple sources of funds and/or financial valueassociated with the user may be linked to the subscriber accountenabling the user to select among such sources to effectuate differentpayment transactions via the network-based system 110.

The user may select various options for receiving payment when a sale iseffectuated via the network-based system 110. For example, the user mayrequest payment for sales via check, deposit to a third-party paymentservices account (e.g., PayPal™ account) or Season Ticket Account,and/or other type of source capable of receiving funds and/or financialvalue in accordance with the described embodiments. In someimplementations, the user may select to donate some or all of theproceeds of a sale to a third-party such as a non-profit organization orentity (e.g., charity, foundation, fund, alliance, society) as describedin co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/697,850 titled “Systemand Method for Providing Logistics for a Sale or Transfer of Goods withProceeds Provided to a Third Party,” which was filed on Oct. 30, 2003and is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

When accessing the subscriber account, the user may view and/or managevarious details of past and pending transactions. For example, thesubscriber account may provide a seller with details regarding past andpending ticket sale listings (e.g., shipped, canceled, inactive,expired, deleted, active, pending confirmation, awaiting shipment) andmay allow the user to track event listings, modify the prices of eventlistings, view and confirm received orders, view and confirm orders toship, print or reprint shipping labels, view shipped orders, viewcanceled orders, view the status of payments and edit payment options,view past payments, and so forth. The subscriber account also mayprovide a buyer with details regarding past and pending ticket purchasetransactions (e.g., past orders, purchased, delivered, canceled,expired, order status, delivery status, active bids, auctions lost) andmay allow the user to view order history, track active bids, modifyoffers, download and print electronic tickets, view and edit paymentoptions, and so forth.

In various implementations, the user may customize a subscriber accountwith one or more interests and ticketing preferences. For example, theuser may add and edit information associated with the subscriber accountregarding one or more cities, venues, artists, teams and sportingevents, theaters, and season ticket and packages of interest to theuser.

The user also may customize a subscriber account with one or morenotification preferences. For example, the user may configure thesubscriber account to receive notifications, change notifications,and/or discontinue notifications. In some cases, the user may request toreceive promotions via an e-mail newsletter featuring events happeningin a particular location. The user also may subscribe to receivecustomized alert notifications in a variety of ways such as via e-mail,IM, SMS, MMS, and/or other suitable delivery mechanism. In addition toreceiving such notifications via e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, the user mayaccess the subscriber account and view recent notifications such asalert notifications and other messages received in the past week.

Selling Services

The selling server 134 implemented by one or more of the applicationservers 130 may allow a user to offer goods for sale via an onlinemarketplace provided by the network-based system 110. To list goods forsale such as a single or multiple event tickets, a seller may providethe network-based system 110 with required event information such asevent, location of the tickets, sale type, ticket quantity, seatingdetails (e.g., section, row, seat, comments), price, and payment method.After receiving the required event information and instructions from theseller to publish an event listing, the network-based system 110 maycreate an active event and store the event information in the activeevents database 154 for publication to users of the network-based system110. It can be appreciated that upon the sale of the tickets, one ormore delivery options may be available depending on the locations of thebuyer and the seller, the time remaining before the event, and/or theform of the tickets (e.g., physical tickets, electronic tickets).

In various embodiments, a seller may post an event for publication asdescribed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/689,787titled “System and Method for Posting Multiple Items for Sale,” whichwas filed on Mar. 22, 2007 and is incorporated by reference in itsentirety. In such embodiments, the seller may select the appropriatetype of event, city, or venue for event tickets being offered for sale,and then may be queried or prompted to select a specific event aftermaking selections from various categories and subcategories presentedvia a set of interactive pull-down menus.

In one implementation, for example, a seller may be presented with apull-down menu listing categories such as sports tickets, concerttickets, theater and arts tickets, and ticket gift certificates. If theseller selects the sports tickets category, a pull-down menu listingsports tickets such as baseball tickets, basketball tickets, footballtickets, and other types of sports tickets is presented. If the sellerthen selects football tickets, a pull-down menu listing sportssubcategories such as NFL tickets, CFL tickets, and NCAA tickets ispresented. If the seller selects the NFL tickets, a pull-down menulisting ticket subcategories such as NFL regular season tickets, NFLplayoff tickets, and NFL pro bowl tickets is presented. If the sellerselects the NFL regular season tickets, a pull-down menu listing NFLteams is presented. Once the seller selects tickets for particular NFLteam, a listing of available events including event details (e.g., teamand opponent, date, time, venue name) for the team are displayed whichcan be sorted by event, date, and venue. The seller may then select anevent from the listing of available events. It can be appreciated thatappropriate sets of pull-down menus for listing categories andsuccessive subcategories may be presented for any type of event ticketin accordance with the described embodiments.

After an event has been selected, the seller may provide thenetwork-based system 110 with the shipping location of the tickets andverify current contact information (e.g., address and telephone phonenumber). The seller may provide a sale type such as a fixed price sale(e.g., set price capable of subsequent modification), a declining pricesale (e.g., automatically decreasing price over time from maximum priceto minimum), or an auction sale (e.g., buyers bid from a starting priceduring an open period with the highest bidder placing an order when theauction closes).

The seller may provide the ticket quantity for specific seats or generaladmission. The seller may provide the ticket quantity and may allow thequantity of offered tickets to be split among several buyers inmultiples of two. The seller may provide seating and ticket details forthe offered tickets such as section, row, seat numbers, and may provideother comments. In some cases, the seller may select to prevent buyersfrom viewing the specific seat numbers when the event listing ispublished by the network-based system 110.

The seller may provide the price per ticket and the ending date of thesale when the event listing is to be removed from publication. For someevents, the event listing may expire three business days before theevent. In certain markets, tickets may be sold on consignment and thelisting may remain until the start of the event.

The seller may provide a selected payment method for the sale of thetickets such as via check, deposit to a third-party payment servicesaccount (e.g., PayPal™ account), Season Ticket Account, and/or othertype of source capable of receiving funds and/or financial value, and/ordonation to a third-party such as a non-profit organization or entity.

Buying Services

The buying server 136 implemented by one or more of the applicationservers 130 may allow a user to locate goods offered for sale via anonline marketplace provided by the network-based system 110. To findgoods for sale such as a single or multiple event tickets, a buyer mayview active event listing published by the network-based system 110.

For example, the buyer may browse active event listings by clicking andfollowing links for various event categories and subcategories such assports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets, cities, sports, teams,artists, show type (e.g., Broadway, opera, ballet, comedy), event names,and so forth. The buyer also may search for events using a search engineinterface and/or one or more pull-down menus. For example, the buyer mayenter one or more keywords into a search engine text entry box and viewresults comprising active events that satisfy the query. In variousimplementations, the buyer may be presented with a ticket finder screencomprising a plurality of pull-down menus for allowing the buyer toquickly formulate a search by selecting a category (e.g., sports,concert, theater, etc.), a location (e.g., city), and a number oftickets from the pull-down menus.

Once a buyer has located and selected an event, the tickets beingoffered for sale for the event may be presented to the buyer. In variousembodiments, the user may view the details of tickets being offered forsale and the location of tickets in the event venue as described inco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/552,782 titled “Methodand System for Illustrating Where a Ticket is Located in an EventVenue,” which was filed on Oct. 25, 2006 and is incorporated byreference in its entirety. In such embodiments, the buyer may bepresented with an interactive event venue seat map and details ofavailable tickets according to criteria specified by the buyer.

In one implementation, for example, after selecting an event the buyermay be presented with an interactive event venue seat map and an initiallisting of all event tickets for sale. The event listings may includedetails such as section, row, quantity, and price and may be sorted bythe buyer according to such details. The sections of the interactiveevent venue seat map for which tickets are available may be displayed incolor while sections having no available tickets may be displayed inwhite.

Within the interactive event venue seat map, comparable orsimilarly-located (e.g., upper level) sections having available ticketsmay be displayed in the same color while sections having availabletickets that are not comparable or similarly-located may be displayed indifferent colors. For example, the colors used in the sections maycorrespond to zones for the sections with each zone comprising severalcomparable or similarly-located sections. Along with the interactiveevent venue seat map, the buyer may be presented list comprising thedifferent zone names and the color used for each zone. The names ofzones having available tickets may be displayed in black text, while thenames of zones having no available tickets may be displayed in graytext.

When presented with the interactive event venue seat map, the buyer mayroll over a particular section causing a roll-over screen to appearindicating the quantity and price range of tickets available in thatsection. By clicking on a particular section, the event listings may befiltered to display only the event listings in the selected sectionalong with the specific details (e.g., section, row, quantity, price)for such tickets. The buyer also may zoom-in, zoom-out, drag, and/orrotate the interactive event venue seat map.

When presented with the initial listing of all event tickets for sale,the buyer may filter the initial listing by inputting criteria such asone or more price ranges (e.g., $75-$286, $286-$349, $349-$442,$442-$559, and $559 and up). Once the buyer selects a price range, theevent listings are filtered to display only the event listings in theselected price range. Additionally, the interactive event venue seat mapis modified to display sections in color for which tickets are availablein the selected price range.

Each event listing may include ticket attributes such as section, row,quantity, and price. Each listing also may include a link to viewadditional details that when clicked may display the ticket attributesalong with further ticket details (e.g., seat numbers, time remaining topurchase the tickets, seller comments, delivery options), a selectivelyenlargeable image of the event venue for reviewing the location of theseats, and an action button for initiating purchase of the tickets.

To place an order for the tickets, the buyer may provide a deliverylocation, select a method of payment (e.g., credit card), confirm thetransaction details (e.g., description of the tickets, delivery method,delivery location, payment amount, and method of payment), and thecomplete the purchase. When the buyer places the order, a confirmatione-mail is sent to the buyer, and the seller is notified of the orderrequest via e-mail and requested to confirm the availability anddelivery of the tickets. Upon receiving confirmation from the sellerthat the tickets have been sent, the buyer is notified as to whendelivery can be expected. It can be appreciated that upon the sale ofthe tickets, one or more delivery options may be available depending onthe locations of the buyer and the seller, the time remaining before theevent, and/or the form of the tickets (e.g., physical tickets,electronic tickets).

Listing Catalog Services

The listing catalog server 138 implemented by one or more of theapplication servers 130 may be arranged to receive and respond toqueries and/or to provide access to event information stored in theactive events database 154. A query to the listing catalog server 138may comprise, for example, a search query, web query, web feed request(e.g., RSS feed request, ATOM feed request), API request, HTTP request(e.g., Get, Post, etc.), a web form submission (e.g., XHTML/HTML form),and/or suitable request mechanism in accordance with the describedembodiments. In various implementations, a query may be submitted to thelisting catalog server 138 via one or more communications servers 120from one or more client devices 104, client programs 106, a third-partyserver 114, and/or a third-party application 116. Queries also may besubmitted to the listing catalog server 138 internally from otherapplication severs 130 of the network-based system 110.

In one embodiment, the listing catalog server 138 may be implemented bya distributed architecture comprising a plurality of distributedindexing modules. Each of the distributed indexing modules may providean interface for receiving queries from front-end servers such as thecommunications servers 120. The distributed indexing modules may storeand build updatable indexes against which a query can be checked toexpedite retrieval of a query result. The indexes may comprise, forexample, common keywords or search terms and event IDs linked to suchkeywords or search terms. The distributed indexing modules also maycache common query results.

The distributed indexing modules may be arranged to receive updatedindexing information brokered via a message bus from a local gatherermodule. The local gatherer, in turn, may be coupled to and collectindexing information from the active events database 154. The indexingmodules may update and/or filter the indexes based on the updatedinformation received from the local gatherer module and/or informationfrom other indexing modules.

The local gatherer module may be arranged to periodically scan itemsstored in the active events database 154 and obtain updated indexinginformation. For example, the local gatherer module may request itemsfrom the active events database 154 that have changed within a giventime period. The event information stored in the active events database154 may change frequently as new event listings for upcoming events areadded and then removed when the tickets for such events listings arepurchased. Furthermore, the active events database 154 may storerelatively static information for an event such as category (e.g.,sports, concerts, theater), as well as real-time dynamic informationsuch as current event listings and true levels of ticket inventory. Itcan be appreciated that the event information maintained by the activeevents database 154 may be extremely dynamic especially in cases whereLMS and electronic ticketing services are provided by the network-basedsystem 110.

The listing catalog server 138 may receive and respond to the querieswith event information for upcoming events that satisfy such queries.The event information may be provided locally from the listing catalogserver 138, if available (e.g., cached), and/or may be retrieved by thelisting catalog server 138 from the active events database 154. Invarious implementations, event information from the listing catalogserver 138 may be communicated via one or more communications servers120 to one or more client devices 104, client programs 106, athird-party server 114, and/or a third-party application 116. The eventinformation from the listing catalog server 138 also may be providedinternally to other application severs 130 of the network-based system110.

Dynamic Content Management Services

The dynamic content management server 140 implemented by one or more ofthe application servers 130 may be arranged to provide a user withrelevant and/or related dynamic content customized according to aparticular context of the user. In various embodiments, the dynamiccontent management server 140 may be structured, arranged, and/orconfigured to bind dynamic information to a particular node and/orcombination of nodes defining the context of the user. Exemplary nodesmay include, for example, geography nodes (e.g., event cities), categorynodes (e.g., sports, concerts, theater), sports nodes (e.g., baseball,football, basketball), sports subcategory nodes (e.g., professional,college), music genre nodes (e.g., jazz, rock, alternative), theatersubcategory nodes (e.g., musical, comedy), ticket subcategory nodes(e.g., regular season, playoff, bowl), conference nodes, team nodes,artist nodes, theater show nodes, venue nodes, event nodes, and soforth. It can be appreciated such nodes may be arranged (e.g.,hierarchically) and/or in other ways in accordance with the describedembodiments.

The dynamic content management server 140 may be configured bind dynamiccontent such as relevant and/or related categories and subcategories,event listings for upcoming events, promotional or advertising content,UI graphics, and/or various other types of customized content to a nodeor combination of nodes. When navigating a web site provided by thenetwork-based system 110, for example, the user may be presented withlinks for selecting from among various locations, categories, and/orsubcategories and for viewing content associated with such selections.When the user makes a particular selection, the context of the user maybe defined by one or more nodes associated with such selection, and theuser may be presented with dynamic content customized to the context ofthe user.

In various embodiments, the dynamic content management server 140 mayimplement a front-end query tool and presentation layer to query thelisting catalog server 138 according to the context of the user. Inresponse to the query, the dynamic content management server 140 mayreceive dynamic content (e.g., XML content) from the listing catalogserver 138 and provide the dynamic content to one or more dynamiccontent modules embedded in a web page presented to the user.Accordingly, the content associated with event listings may change basedon the context of the user, configurable parameters, and/or availableinventory.

In one example, a user selects a particular city, and the dynamiccontent management server 140 has bound dynamic content to a geographynode associated with the particular city. Upon selection of theparticular city by the user, the context of the user may be defined atleast in part by the geography node of the selected city, and the usermay be presented with the dynamic content that is bound to the geographynode. In this case, the user may be presented with a web page includingdynamic content customized for the particular city such as graphics(e.g., pictures, background) and advertising content (e.g., banner ads)for the particular city, relevant and/or related categories andsubcategories (e.g., links for local sports teams, artists performing inconcert in the city, theater shows playing in the city), a list of eventnames and dates for upcoming events in the city arranged by category,and/or other type of dynamic content that changes according to the cityselected by the user.

In another example, a user selects a particular football team, and thedynamic content management server 140 has bound dynamic content to ateam node associated with the particular football team. Upon selectionof the team by the user, the context of the user may be defined at leastin part by the team node, and the user may be presented with the dynamiccontent that is bound to the team node. In this case, the user may bepresented with a web page including dynamic content customized for theparticular team. For example, the web page presented to the user may bedynamically branded with graphics (e.g., pictures, background),advertising content (e.g., banner ads), and/or news associated with theparticular team. The user also may be presented with event listings forupcoming games for the team as well as relevant and/or relatedcategories and subcategories (e.g., links for road games, playoff games)for the team. In this implementation, the context of the user may bedefined by one or more other nodes in a hierarchical path to the teamnode such as a category node (e.g., sports), sports nodes (e.g.,football), sports subcategory node (e.g., professional), and ticketsubcategory node (e.g., regular season). As such, the user may bepresented with dynamic content bound to one or more of such nodes suchas links to other professional football teams for which regular seasontickets are available.

It can be appreciated that the embodiments are not limited to theforegoing examples and that dynamic content may be bound to a particularnodes and/or a combination of nodes for customizing that contentdisplayed to a user based on the context of the user. Accordingly, thedynamic content management server 140 may be used to create dynamiccontent campaigns including a various types of static and dynamiccontent and to bind such campaigns to nodes or groups of nodes thatdefine a context of the user. It also can be appreciated that a nodeand/or combination of nodes can be detected as a user selects one morelinks and/or in other ways such as when a query is submitted (e.g., textentry, selection of checkboxes, selection from a pull-down menu), asearch result is returned, or in any other way in accordance with thedescribed embodiments.

Delivery Services

The delivery server 142 implemented by one or more of the applicationservers 130 may arrange the delivery of goods from the seller to thebuyer. For the delivery of time-sensitive goods such as a single ormultiple event tickets, the network-based system 110 may determine andpresent delivery options that ensure that an event ticket is deliveredto the buyer before an event and the costs associated with such deliveryoptions.

In various embodiments, the network-based system 110 may coordinate thedelivery of event tickets as described in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/867,171 titled “System and Method for ProvidingLogistics for a Sale of Goods,” which was filed on Sep. 27, 2001 and isincorporated by reference in its entirety. In such embodiments, thenetwork-based system 110 may automatically arrange and/or facilitate thelogistics for the delivery of event tickets from the seller to thebuyer.

In one implementation, for example, when the buyer places an order,available delivery options are presented to the buyer that ensure thatthe event tickets can be delivered before the event either to the buyeror to a pick-up location (e.g., event venue will call or an office ofthe network-based system 110) in proximity to the buyer. Thenetwork-based system 110 may determine all available delivery optionsbased on the form of the tickets (e.g., physical tickets, electronictickets), the time remaining before the event, the location of thegoods, the location of the buyer, pick-up locations in proximity to thebuyer, and/or the capabilities one or more couriers (e.g., air/landcouriers, express couriers, local couriers or “runners”) that canexecute the delivery within the time remaining before the event.

When a physical ticket is to be delivered, the network-based system 110may determine and present shipping options to the buyer. The buyer mayprovide a delivery or pick-up location, and the network-based system 110may automatically determine couriers capable of ensuring delivery andpresent a list identifying the couriers, the available shipping methods(e.g., two day, one day, overnight, same day) for each courier, and theassociated cost of each shipping method.

When a courier and shipping method is selected by the buyer, the sellermay be notified and presented with a printable shipping label for thecourier and logistics for providing the tickets to the courier. Forexample, the network-based system 110 may automatically determine theclosest courier facility in proximity to the seller and may allow andarrange for the courier to retrieve the tickets. In such cases, thenetwork-based system 110 may communicate relevant information (e.g.,seller address, delivery address, pick-up day and time frame) to thecourier in order to coordinate ticket retrieval. If the courier cannotservice any of the selected locations at any of the selected times, thenetwork-based system 110 may require the seller to drop off the ticketsat the nearest courier facility. The seller also may select to drop offthe tickets at the nearest courier facility. If the seller selects or isrequired to drop off the tickets, the buyer may be provided with thelocation of the courier facility, driving or walking directions to thecourier facility, and/or a map showing the courier facility.

Upon confirmation by the seller that the tickets have been sent orpicked up, the network-based system 110 may communicate deliverytracking information to the buyer and/or seller. The network-basedsystem 110 may notify the buyer of the delivery location and expectedtime and date of delivery. If the delivery location is at a pick-uplocation such as the event venue will call or an office associated withthe network-based system 110, the buyer may be provided with the pick-uplocation, driving or walking directions to the pick-up location, and/ora map showing the pick-up location.

To ensure delivery to the buyer before an event, a last sale time may beassociated with an event listing. In some cases, for example, the lastsale time for an event listing may be three business days before theevent to provide sufficient transit time to ensure completion ofdelivery. In such cases, the event listing will expire at the last saletime. It can be appreciated, however, that both sellers and buyers maydesire the last sale time to be as close to the event start time aspossible in order to maximize the opportunity to make a sale and theopportunity to witness an event. Accordingly, the network-based system110 may provide sellers and buyers with various last minute services(LMS) for maintaining an event listing and the ability to sell andpurchase listed tickets right up to the start of the event.

In one implementation, for example, the network-based system 110 mayallow tickets to be sold on consignment and may maintain an eventlisting until the start of the event. When a seller requires delivery ofphysical tickets for an upcoming event, the seller may select to sellthe tickets using LMS provided by the network-based system 110. Theseller may request LMS and provide the network-based system 110 withcontact information (e.g., name, address, telephone number, e-mailaddress), ticket information (e.g., event name, event venue, ticketevent dates, closest city to the event), and authorization to releasethe tickets.

In response to the LMS request, the seller may be contacted by an agentof the network-based system 110 via telephone or other contact methodand provided with additional selling information. Depending on the timeremaining before the event, the seller may be instructed to ship orphysically deliver the tickets to an LMS center associated with thenetwork-based system 110. Typically, the location of the LMS center willbe in close proximity to the event venue. The seller also may select tophysically deliver the tickets to the LMS center. When physical deliveryof the ticket to the LMS center is required or selected, the seller maybe provided with the location of the LMS center, driving or walkingdirections to the LMS center, and/or a map showing the LMS center.

Once the tickets are delivered to the LMS center, the event listing maybe maintained until the start of the event and the subsequent deliveryof the tickets to a buyer is handled by the network-based system 110.For example, the LMS center and/or the network-based system 110 mayhandle the responsibility of shipping the tickets to the buyer,delivering the tickets to the event venue will call, and/or the keepingthe tickets at the LMS center until pick-up by the buyer. It can beappreciated that the LMS provided by the network-based system 110 mayfacilitate delivery and allow the network-based system 110 to defer thelast sale time until the start of the event.

In various embodiments, the network-based system 110 also may defer thelast sale time until the start of the event by providing variouselectronic ticketing options. In such embodiments, the network-basedsystem 110 may provide the buyer with an electronic ticket that can beused at the event venue. Upon receiving the electronic ticket from thenetwork-based system 110, the buyer may print out a paper copy of theelectronic ticket, and the bar code of the electronic ticket can bescanned from the paper copy of the electronic ticket at the event venue.In some cases, the electronic ticket may be displayed by a mobile deviceof the buyer, and the bar code of the electronic ticket can be scannedfrom the screen of the mobile device at the event venue.

In various implementations, the network-based system 110 may communicatewith an electronic ticketing system (e.g., at the event venue) toassociate an electronic ticket with the buyer. For example, thenetwork-based system 110 may instruct the ticketing system to activatenew electronic tickets with new bar codes for the buyer and todeactivate the original electronic tickets and original bar codes of theseller. The new electronic tickets can be delivered to the buyer by thenetwork-based system 110 and/or the electronic ticketing system forprinting and/or display.

Alternatively or additionally, the network-based system 110 may instructthe ticketing system to associate identification and/or authorizationinformation (e.g., credit card, swipe card, password, pin code) of thebuyer with the electronic ticket and to deactivate identification and/orauthorization information of the seller from the electronic ticket. Uponproviding the required identification and/or authorization informationto the electronic ticketing system, to a kiosk at the event venue,and/or to the network-based system 110, the buyer can print and/ordisplay the electronic ticket.

Payment Services

The payment server 144 implemented by one or more of the applicationservers 130 may be arranged to effectuate and/or manage payments betweenbuyers and sellers and to post and track financial transactions forusers of the network-based system 110. Transaction information for pastand pending transactions may be stored by the network-based system 110in the transaction database 156. The payment server 144 also may providedispute resolution mechanisms to handle payment disputes arising betweentransacting parties and/or fraud prevention mechanisms to preventfraudulent transaction, unauthorized use of financial instruments,non-delivery of goods, abuse of personal information, and so forth.While the payment server 144 is shown in FIG. 1 as forming part of thenetworked-based system 110, it will be appreciated that the paymentserver 144 may form part of a third-party payment system that isseparate and distinct from the network-based system 110 in alternativeembodiments.

In various implementations, the payment server 144 may account for atransfer of funds and/or financial value by debiting the a source offunds and/or financial value linked to the subscriber account of thebuyer and crediting a source of funds and/or financial value linked tothe subscriber account of the seller. For example, the network-basedsystem may securely communicate with one or more financial institutionssuch as a bank or credit card company over one or more networks 108 andarrange the transfer of funds and/or financial value from the buyer tothe seller. It can be appreciated that while certain settlementmechanisms may be described for purposes of illustration, theembodiments are not limited in this regard, and a variety of settlementnetworks and modalities may be used in accordance with the describedembodiments.

In one embodiment, after the buyer reviews and confirms an order, theaccount (e.g., credit card) of the buyer is verified, and the saleamount (e.g., ticket price plus delivery cost) is authorized. The selleris notified of the proposed purchase by e-mail or other notificationmechanism and requested to confirm that the tickets are still availableand that the transaction can be completed.

Upon receiving confirmation from the seller, the account (e.g., creditcard) of the buyer is charged. Funds from the account of the buyer maybe electronically transferred into a merchant account associated withthe network-based system 110, and a transaction fee may be deducted. Theremaining proceeds are then directed to the seller by issuing a paymentin accordance with the payment method selected by the seller such as viacheck, deposit to a third-party payment services account (e.g., PayPal™account), Season Ticket Account, and/or other type of source capable ofreceiving funds and/or financial value, and/or donation to a third-partysuch as a non-profit organization or entity.

It can be appreciated that the network-based system 110 may provide a“double blind” complete ticket-sale transaction without interactionbetween buyer and seller. Namely, the network-based system 110 mayfacilitate an entire ticket-sale transaction without requiring anyinteraction between the seller and the buyer. The network-based system110 controls and/or facilitates the entire sale and purchase process andserves as an intermediary between the buyer and seller effectivelyisolating the participation of the seller in the transaction from theparticipation of the buyer in the transaction. Accordingly, the identityof one transacting party can remain concealed from the other.

Notification Services

The notification server 146 implemented by one or more of theapplication servers 130 may be arranged to generate and send varioustypes of notifications to users of the network-based system 110. Thenotification server 146 may communicate with users over one or moretypes of networks 108 (e.g., the Internet, a WAN, a WWAN, a WLAN, amobile telephone network, a landline telephone network, a VoIP network,etc.) via interfaces provided the communications servers 120 such as theweb server 122, API server 124, and/or messaging server 126. It can beappreciated that, in some implementations, notifications may beforwarded to users via an intermediary such as an Internet ServiceProvider (ISP), online service provider (OSP), web-based e-mail serviceprovide, message aggregator (e.g., SMS aggregator), mobile transactionnetwork entity, and so forth.

The notifications may comprise messages delivered to users via e-mail,IM, SMS, MMS, video message, telephone call as well as messagesdelivered to the subscriber account of the user. In some cases, thenotifications may provide the user with information related to variousonline marketplace transactions. For example, notifications may be sentto sellers for indicating the status of event listings, informing theseller of offers (e.g., auction bids) for event listings or sales ofsimilar tickets and allowing the user to modify the prices of eventlistings, notifying the seller of placed orders and requestingconfirmation of the availability of tickets for such orders, providingdelivery instructions and requesting confirmation of delivery, trackingshipped orders, providing the status of payments, and so forth.Notifications may be sent to buyers for tracking ticket purchasetransactions (e.g., active bids, auctions lost) for event listings andallowing the buyer to modify offers, confirming an order and delivery,tracking shipped orders, providing pick-up instructions and requestingconfirmation of receipt, downloading and print electronic tickets, andso forth.

In various embodiments, the user may subscribe to receive customizedalert notifications for upcoming events as described in co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/262,468 titled “System and Methods forUpcoming Event Notification and Mobile Purchasing,” which was filed onOct. 31, 2008 and is incorporated by reference in its entirety. In suchembodiments, the notification server 146 may be arranged to generate andsend an alert notification comprising a text message including relevantstatic or dynamic event information as well as an embedded hyperlink.The hyperlink may comprise a hyperlinked telephone number for allowingthe user to place a telephone call to an agent of the network-basedsystem 110 for transacting a mobile purchase. Alternatively oradditionally, the hyperlink may comprise a URL or URI for navigating tothe network-based system 110 for transacting the mobile purchase.

Client-Side Web Applications

As described above, the network-based system 110 may implement an onlinesecondary ticket marketplace accessible to users via a desktop and/ormobile web browser. In one or more embodiments, the network-based system110 also may provide users with one or more web applications to beinstalled as one or more of the client programs 106 on the clientdevices 104 for receiving content and/or online services from thenetwork-based system 110 and one or more third-parties (e.g.,third-party 112). Such client-side web applications may be implementedusing various web technologies and programming languages (e.g.,interpreted, compiled, scripting, virtual machine, etc.) and/or inaccordance with an SDK provided by the network-based system 110 and/orthe third-party 112. While FIG. 1 shows only the third-party 112 forpurposes of illustration, it can be appreciated that the communicationsystem 100 may comprise multiple different third-parties.

In some embodiments, a client-side web application may be implemented asa widget such as a desktop or mobile widget displayed on the desktop orphone-top of one or more of the client devices 104 (e.g., PC or mobiledevice) and configured to communicate with the network-based system 110and/or the third party 112. In such embodiments, the desktop or mobilewidget may comprise a web-based application, web-based code, aninterpreter, a virtual machine, and/or an API implementation to request,receive, present, and/or update content hosted by the network-basedsystem 110 or the third party 112. The desktop or mobile widget may besupported on a PC or mobile device by a host runtime environment such asa web browser or suitable rendering engine and/or may be installed andrun as a stand-alone application outside of a web browser.

In some embodiments, a client-side web application may be implementedwithin a web browser toolbar. For example, the client-side webapplication may comprise a plug-in for a web browser toolbar configuredto communicate with the network-based system 110 and/or the third party112. In such embodiments, after installation of the client-side webapplication, the web browser toolbar may be provided with a button(e.g., dedicated, customized, add-on) and/or a hyperlinked URL fornavigating to a web site associated with the network-based system 110 orthe third-party 112. The web browser toolbar also may be provided withenhanced features such as a search engine interface (e.g., text entrybox, input fields, checkboxes, clickable hyperlinks) and/or one or morepull-down menus for accessing the network-based system 110 and/or thethird party 112, sending information (e.g., search query, keywords, userpreferences, menu selections) to the network-based system 110 and/or thethird party 112, and/or receiving information (e.g., search results,relevant static or dynamic content) from the network-based system 110and/or the third party 112.

The network-based system 110 may make client-side web applicationsavailable to users in various ways. For example, the network-basedsystem 110 may send messages (e.g., e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, etc.) to usersthat advertise or inform users of the availability of the webapplication and that include a hyperlink to a server of thenetwork-based system 110 or the third-party 112 for downloading the webapplication. In some cases, the size of the web application may be smallenough such that the web application itself may be sent to users viae-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, and/or other suitable delivery mechanism. Thenetwork-based system 110 also may present users with a web page (e.g.,home page, subscriber welcome page) including a clickable hyperlink,icon or banner, right-click save functionality, and so forth fordownloading the web application from a server of the network-basedsystem 110 or the third-party 112. Alternatively or additionally, thenetwork-based system 110 may make the web application available via aweb site or server that hosts a variety of different desktop or mobilewidgets and/or web browser toolbar plug-ins.

Once downloaded and installed on one more of the client devices 104(e.g., PC or mobile device) of a user, the client-side web applicationmay provide the user with the ability to receive content and/or onlinemarketplace and ticket fulfillment services of the network-based system110 including, for example, account services, buying services, sellingservices, listing catalog services, dynamic content management services,delivery services, payment services, notification services, and soforth. In some implementations, the client-side web application also mayallow user to receive and aggregate content and/or online servicesprovided by a third party 112 such as additional content and onlinemarketplace and ticket fulfillment services (e.g., eBay® services,Kijiji™ services), payment services (e.g., PayPal™ services), and/orother content and online services for promoting, enhancing,complementing, supplementing, and/or substituting for one more servicesprovided by the network-based system 110.

In one or more embodiments, the client-side web application may beconfigured to provide the user with upcoming event information basedupon the location of the user. In various implementations, theclient-side web application may determine the location of a user inresponse to the user manually inputting geographic information (e.g.,address, city, state, zip code, venue) into a text entry box or inputfield, selecting a location from a displayed list or from a pull-downmenu, or in any other suitable way in accordance with the describedembodiments. Alternatively or additionally, the location of the user maybe automatically determined by the client-based web application usingvarious capabilities or characteristics of the client device (e.g., PCor mobile device). For example, the client-side web application mayderive the location of the user from a web browser application,messaging application (e.g., e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, telephone, voicemail,VoIP, video messaging), contacts application, calendar application,electronic document application, database application, media application(e.g., music, video, television), LBS application (e.g., GPS, mapping,directions, point-of-interest, locator), and so forth.

The client-side web application may be configured to generate a querybased upon the location of a user and other event criteria. In variousembodiments, the query may comprise the location of the user as well astime-based information (e.g., date or date range) for requestinglocation-based upcoming event information for one or more events forwhich tickets are available occurring on a certain date or within aparticular date range. The client-side web application may generate thequery using a default date (e.g., this week) and/or may prompt the userto enter a specified date or date range.

In some embodiments, the client-side web application may allow the userto request upcoming event information based on a variety of eventcriteria such as an event name, category, city, venue, artist, genre,team, player (e.g., starting pitcher, favorite player), theater, daterange, date, number of tickets, price range, ticket attributes (e.g.,zone range, zone, section range, section, row range, row, seat numberrange, seat number), and/or combination thereof. Accordingly, the eventcriteria included in the query may comprise ticket attributes as well asone or more conditions associated with the event parameters forrequesting information for such upcoming events only when suchconditions are met.

It can be appreciated that various combinations of event criteria arepossible in accordance with the described embodiments. For example, auser may request upcoming event information specifying combinations suchas a certain number of tickets and a maximum price, a particular artistand a certain city, a certain player and a particular event venue, andso forth. A user also may request upcoming event information based onone or more ticket attributes. For instance, a user may request acertain number of tickets for an upcoming event in one or more specifiedzones, sections, rows, and/or or seats. Additionally, event criteria maybe applied alone or in combination across one or more events. A user mayrequest, for example, tickets in a certain row (e.g., front row) or rowrange (e.g., rows 1-5) within a specified zone (e.g., club infield) orsection (e.g., section 224) for a designated team (e.g., professionalbaseball team) and/or for one or more games (e.g., particular opponent,rivalry game). The embodiments are not limited in the regard.

Using the location of a user and other event criteria, the client-sideweb application may generate a query prior to communicating withnetwork-based system 110. The client-side web application then maycommunicate the generated query to the network-based system 110 forrequesting location-based upcoming event information for one or moreupcoming events. For example, the client-side web application maycommunicate the generated query to the listing catalog server 138 of thenetwork-based system 110. The query received by the listing catalogserver 138 may comprise, for example, a search query, web query, webfeed request (e.g., RSS feed request, ATOM feed request), API request,HTTP request, and/or suitable request mechanism in accordance with thedescribed embodiments. The listing catalog server 138 may be arranged toreceive and respond to the query with a response including the requestedevent information for the upcoming events. In some embodiments, theresponse provided by the listing catalog server 138 may include eventinformation delivered via a web feed or other suitable deliverymechanism. While the event information may be received by theclient-side web application via a request/response mechanism, it can beappreciated that alternatively and/or additionally, the listing catalogserver 138 may periodically push event information to the client-sideweb application in some implementations.

Exemplary event information parameters that may be included in theresponse from the network-based system 110 are described below in thefollowing table.

Event Information Parameter Table Event Parameter Details act_primaryHome Team Mascot act_secondary Away Team Mascot active_type 1 = activeevent 0 = inactive event allowedtosell 1 = general public allowed tosell tickets 0 = generatl public not allowed to sell ticketsancestorGenreIds List of parent IDs, in order of hierarchy, identifyingbrowsing path to reach the node ancestorGeoIds List of geography IDs, inorder of hierarchy, identifying browsing path to reach the geographynode canceled 1 = event has been canceled 0 = event has not beencanceled channel Name of the top level genre in the breadcrumb trailtied to the event channelId ID of the top level genre in the breadcrumbtrail tied to the event channelUrlPath URL path for the top level genrein the breadcrumb trail tied to the event channel_facet_str ID and Nameof the top level genre in the breadcrumb trail tied to the event cityCity of the event date_last_modified Time of last change to the eventdescription Name of the event eventDate_facet_str Month and year of theevent, numeric (yyyy-mm) and alpha (month, yyyy) eventGeoDescriptionName of venue event_date Date and time of the event (GMT)event_date_local yyyy-mm-dd of the event event_date_time Date and localtime of the event event_id Unique ID of the event event_time_local Localtime of the event genreUrlPath URL path for the parent genre of theevent genre_parent ID of the parent genre of the event geoUrlPath URLpath for the venue of the event geography_parent ID of the parent geo ofthe venue hide_event_date 1 = event date hidden 0 = event date nothidden id ID of the event last_chance Date and time to delist the eventused in place of the actual event date due to shipping rules maxPriceHighest ticket price for the event maxSeatsTogether Maximum number ofsuccessive seats that can be purchased together minPrice Lowest ticketprice for the event name_primary Event match-up using team mascots(e.g., Mets vs Braves) name_secondary Full name of the away team (e.g.,New York Mets) spark_event_flag Event marked as a “hot” event stateState of the event totalPostings Number of actual postings for the eventtotalTickets Actual number of tickets listed for the eventvenue_config_id Configuration of the venue for the event

It can be appreciated that, in some implementations, not all of theevent information parameters included in the table may be necessary todisplay location-based upcoming event information to the user.Accordingly, when all of the event information parameters are includedin the response, the client-side web application may parse the responseand extract only those event information parameters that are needed.Alternatively, the query and/or the response may be configured torequest and respond with only those event information parametersnecessary to display location-based upcoming event information. It alsocan be appreciated that the response may include different eventinformation parameters and/or additional event information parametersthan those described in the table.

The client-based web application may be configured to communicate aquery in response to clicking a button and/or hyperlink or in responseto another suitable user command. Alternatively or additionally, queriesmay be communicated at default or user-defined periodic intervals suchas every five minutes, every thirty minutes, every hour, or othersuitable time period. Accordingly, in periodic and/or configurableintervals, the client-based web application may send a query to thenetwork-based system 110 for requesting updated event information andmay display new event information received via a subsequent responsefrom the network-based system 110. For example, the client-side webapplication may update the event information to include additionalupcoming events, to remove certain upcoming events, and/or or to reflectevent details (e.g., number of available tickets, prices, etc.) thathave changed.

In response to a query communicated to the network-based system 110, theclient-side web application may receive location-based upcoming eventinformation for one or more upcoming events. In some cases, the responsemay be limited to location-based event information for upcoming eventsoccurring within a particular date range. For example, the response tothe query may include location-based event information for one or moreevents for which tickets are available occurring within the next sevendays.

The client-side web application may display the location-based upcomingevent information to a user in various ways. In some implementations,the location-based upcoming event information may be displayed by theclient-side web application as a listing of events that satisfy theevent criteria and for which tickets are available. The listing ofevents may include details for each event such as the event name, theevent venue, the event date, the number of ticket listings, a pricerange, and/or other event details in accordance with the describedembodiments. By selecting an upcoming event from the event listings, theuser may be presented with additional event details and/or may initiatea ticket purchase. The client-side web application also may displaylocation-based upcoming event information on a map presented to theuser. For example, the client-side web application may display a mapthat illustrates and/or pinpoints the locations of event venues and/or aticket pick-up location such as an LMS center associated with thenetwork-based system 110. By selecting a pinpointed location from themap, the user may be presented with details about events occurring atthe selected location and/or with directions to the selected location.

In various embodiments, the upcoming event information returned in aquery and displayed by the client-side web application may compriseticket level details including section, row, and seat. Accordingly,users may be presented with specific ticket details by the client-sideweb application via a mapping user interface and/or a toolbar userinterface and may view tickets, select tickets, and also set preferencesat the ticket level based on ticket level details.

In one or more embodiments, the client-side web application may displaylocation-based upcoming event information that includes event listingspublished by sellers via the online marketplace services of thenetwork-based system 110 as well as event listings published by sellersvia one or more third-party online marketplace services (e.g., eBay®services, services). In such embodiments, the client-side webapplication may display an aggregate of ticket inventory available frommultiple online marketplaces providing the user with multiple purchasingoptions. In some implementations, the network-based system 110 may storeevent listings associated with one or more third-party onlinemarketplace services and may provide such third-party event listings inresponse to a query from the client-side web application. In otherimplementations, the network-based system 110 may retrieve third-partyevent listings from one or more third-party online marketplace servicesin response to a query from the client-side web application and thenprovide such third-party event listings to the client-side webapplication. Alternatively or additionally, the client-side webapplication may be configured to generate one or more queries to one ormore third-parties, and such third-parties may be configured to respondto the client-side web application by providing the requestedlocation-based upcoming event information.

In various embodiments, the information displayed to the user via theclient-side web application may comprise dynamic content such as dynamicevent information as well as relevant or related dynamic content. Thedynamic event information may comprise, for example, event informationthat changes as new event listings for upcoming events are added and asevent listings are removed when the tickets for such events listings arepurchased and real-time event-specific information such as current eventlistings, price ranges, and true levels of ticket inventory. Relevant orrelated dynamic content displayed by the client-side web application maycomprise, for example, dynamic content customized according to thelocation of the user such as location-based advertising content (e.g.,banner ads), relevant and/or related categories and subcategories (e.g.,links for local sports teams, artists performing in the location,theater shows playing in the location), a list of event names and datesfor upcoming events in the location arranged by category, and/or othertype of dynamic featured content that changes according to the locationof the user. In some implementations, the appearance of a user interfacedisplayed by the client-side web application may be customized orbranded with dynamic content based on the location of the user and/orevent criteria specified by the user. For example, the client-side webapplication may display a user interface comprising a header, skin, orother designated area that dynamically displays different graphics(e.g., pictures, logos, backgrounds, etc.), advertisements, news, and/orother featured content received from the network-based system 110according to the location and/or event criteria of the user.

To effectuate a ticket purchase, the client-side web application mayprompt the user to enter account information such as a unique usernameor e-mail address and a password. Upon receiving the required accountinformation, the client-side web application may authenticate the userwith the network-based system 110 and may allow the user to complete aticket purchase via the client-side web application. Afterauthentication, the client-side web application may be configured to usea source of financial value linked to the subscriber account of the useror may request the user to supply payment information (e.g., credit cardaccount, PayPal™ account, etc.) for the transaction. Alternatively oradditionally, when the user selects an upcoming event from the eventlistings displayed by the client-side web application, a web page of thenetwork-based system 110 may be launched by a web browser on the deviceof the user for allowing the user to log in and complete a ticketpurchase.

In various embodiments, after supplying the account information requiredfor authentication, the user also may access and receive various accountservices provided by the network-based system 110 via the client-sideweb application. For example, the client-side web application mayprovide a seller with details regarding past and pending ticket salelistings (e.g., shipped, canceled, inactive, expired, deleted, active,pending confirmation, awaiting shipment) and may allow the user to trackevent listings, modify the prices of event listings, view and confirmreceived orders, view and confirm orders to ship, print or reprintshipping labels, view shipped orders, view canceled orders, view thestatus of payments and edit payment options, view past payments, and soforth.

The client-side web application also may provide a buyer with detailsregarding past and pending ticket purchase transactions (e.g., pastorders, purchased, delivered, canceled, expired, order status, deliverystatus, active bids, auctions lost) and may allow the user to view orderhistory, track active bids, modify offers, download and print electronictickets, view and edit payment options, and so forth. In someimplementations, the client-side web application may be customized withuser preferences (e.g., interests, ticketing preferences, notificationpreferences) associated with the subscriber account and vice versa. Forexample, user preferences may be synchronized between the subscriberaccount of the user and the client-side web application.

As described above, a buyer may purchase and use an electronic ticket atan event venue. In various embodiments, the client-side web applicationmay allow a user to purchase electronic tickets. The client-side webapplication also may allow a user to save electronic ticket information.For example, the client-side web application may allow a user save anelectronic ticket and/or a hyperlink to a file associated with theelectronic ticket in the web browser toolbar or within a desktop ormobile widget. The user also may display information for anddifferentiate among purchased electronic tickets on a client device(e.g., PC or mobile device) via the client-side web application.

It can be appreciated that in some cases, an upcoming event may notsatisfy all event criteria specified by the user. For example, ticketsfor an upcoming event may be available but not within a price rangespecified by the user. Additionally, there may be no upcoming eventsthat satisfy the event criteria specified by the user when there are noavailable tickets such as when no sellers have listed tickets for anevent and/or before tickets for an event go on sale. In such cases, theclient-side web application may inform the user that there are no searchresults satisfying the search criteria and then perform a new searchwith relaxed search criteria. Alternatively or additionally, theclient-side web application may automatically relax the search criteriaand attempt another search.

In some implementations, when there are no upcoming events that satisfyall the event criteria specified by the user, the client-side webapplication may allow the user to select to receive alert notificationsfor one or more upcoming events conditioned on the complete satisfactionof the event criteria. For example, the client-side web application mayprovide the search criteria specified by the user to the network-basedsystem 110 and allow the user to select to receive an alert notificationwhenever an upcoming event that substantially and/or completelysatisfies the search criteria is listed. For example, the user mayselect to receive “on sale” alert notifications when tickets thatsatisfy one or more preferences of the user become available. In suchimplementations, the network-based system 110 may provide the user withvarious capabilities (e.g., preference settings and options) to allowthe user to receive “on sale” alert notifications for preferred ticketsand to allow the user to automatically and/or optionally purchase suchpreferred tickets.

In accordance with various embodiments, a client-side web applicationmay present information to and/or receive information from the user viaone or more user interfaces presented on the display of a client device(e.g., PC or mobile device). The user interfaces presented to the userby a client-side web application may comprise a search engine interface(e.g., text entry boxes, input fields, checkboxes, clickable hyperlinks,pull-down menus, etc.) for allowing the user to provide a locationand/or other event criteria for searching and/or filtering eventlistings. The user interfaces presented to the user by a client-side webapplication also may comprise search results including location-basedupcoming event listings that satisfy the event criteria.

Exemplary representations of user interfaces displayed on a computer byclient-side web applications for providing location-based upcoming eventinformation are described below with reference to FIGS. 2-7. It is to beunderstood that the embodiments are not limited to such exemplaryrepresentations. Furthermore, it is to be understood that although auser interface may be described as being presented by a client-side webapplication implemented by a desktop or mobile widget or within a webbrowser toolbar, the embodiments are not limited in this regard. Forexample, various features and functions of a desktop or mobile widgetuser interface may be implemented by web browser toolbar user interfaceand vice versa. In addition, a user interface presented by a client-sideweb application may comprise a combination of such features andfunctions as well as different and/or additional features and functionsin accordance with the described embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a representation of a user interface 200 presented bya client-side web application for providing location-based upcomingevent information in accordance with various embodiments. With referenceto FIG. 1, the user interface 200 may be presented by a client-side webapplication installed as one or more of the client programs 106 on oneor more of the client devices 104. In one embodiment, the user interface200 may be presented by a client-side web application implemented as adesktop or mobile widget on a client device (e.g., PC or mobile device)and may allow a user to receive content and/or online services from thenetwork-based system 110 and one or more third-parties (e.g.,third-party 112). It can be appreciated that the embodiments are notlimited to this context or to this representation.

As shown, the user interface 200 comprises a search engine interfaceincluding a location field 202 to allow a user to enter a location(e.g., current location, desired location) used to search forlocation-based upcoming event information. The user interface 200 alsocomprises a Category pull-down menu 204 and a Genre pull-down menu 206for specifying event criteria to limit the search. The user interface200 also includes a “From” date field 208 and a “To” date field 210 forsearching for location-based upcoming event information within aparticular date range. It can be appreciated that the user interface 200is an exemplary embodiment and that a user interface presented by aclient-side web application may allow the user to specify various typesof event criteria in other embodiments.

The user interface 200 also comprises a Search Events button 212 forgenerating a query and conducting a search and a results pane 214 fordisplaying the search results received in response to the query. In thisexample, the results pane 214 displays location-based upcoming eventinformation as a listing of upcoming events having available ticketsthat are within the date range and that satisfy the event criteria(e.g., Category=Concerts, Genre=Jazz Music). As shown, the listing ofevents includes details for each event such as the event name, the eventvenue, the event date, the number of ticket listings, and a price range.The listing of events displayed in the results pane 214 also comprisesan aggregate of ticket inventory from several seller platforms (e.g.,StubHub, eBay, and Kijiji) giving the user multiple purchasing options.For instance, by selecting an upcoming event from the listing of events,the user may be presented with additional event details and/or mayinitiate a ticket purchase.

As shown, the user interface 200 presented by the client-side webapplication also comprises a map 216. In this example, the map 216includes a pin 218 illustrating the location of an event venue. Upon theselection of the pin 218, the user interface 200 may display a pop-upwindow 220 including event details for the event venue comprising anaggregate of ticket inventory from several seller platforms (e.g.,StubHub, eBay, and Kijiji) which can be selected by the user to initiatea ticket purchase. The pop-up window 220 also includes a featuredcontent area which may comprise dynamic content that is relevant orrelated to the location and/or event criteria of the user.

FIG. 3 illustrates a representation of a user interface 300 presented bya client-side web application for providing location-based upcomingevent information in accordance with various embodiments. With referenceto FIG. 1, the user interface 300 may be presented by a client-side webapplication installed as one or more of the client programs 106 on oneor more of the client devices 104. In one embodiment, the user interface300 may be presented by a client-side web application implemented withina web browser toolbar displayed on a client device (e.g., PC or mobiledevice). It can be appreciated that the embodiments are not limited tothis context or to this representation.

As shown, the user interface 300 comprises a web browser toolbar 302which may be displayed by a desktop or mobile web browser. In thisexample, the web browser toolbar 302 includes a toolbar button 304 that,when selected by the user, may launch or display other user interfacespresented by the client-side web application within the web browser.

FIG. 4 illustrates a representation of a user interface 400 presented bya client-side web application for providing location-based upcomingevent information in accordance with various embodiments. With referenceto FIG. 1, the user interface 400 may be presented by a client-side webapplication installed as one or more of the client programs 106 on oneor more of the client devices 104. In one embodiment, the user interface300 may be presented by a client-side web application implemented withina web browser toolbar displayed on a client device (e.g., PC or mobiledevice). It can be appreciated that the embodiments are not limited tothis context or to this representation.

In this example, the user interface 400 may be presented after the userclicks the toolbar button 304 of FIG. 3. As shown, the user interface400 prompts the user to choose a location and comprises a selectablelisting of cities 402 for allowing the user to select a location (e.g.,closest city, desired location) used to search for location-basedupcoming event information.

FIG. 5 illustrates a representation of a user interface 500 presented bya client-side web application for providing location-based upcomingevent information in accordance with various embodiments. With referenceto FIG. 1, the user interface 500 may be presented by a client-side webapplication installed as one or more of the client programs 106 on oneor more of the client devices 104. In one embodiment, the user interface500 may be presented by a client-side web application implemented withina web browser toolbar displayed on a client device (e.g., PC or mobiledevice). It can be appreciated that the embodiments are not limited tothis context or to this representation.

In this example, the user interface 500 may be presented after the userselects a location (e.g., SF Bay Area, California) from the listing ofcities 402 of FIG. 4 and displays event listings for a default timeperiod (e.g., this week) arranged by category. As shown, the userinterface may comprise a Sports category 502 and a corresponding listingof sports events 504, a Concerts category 506 and a correspondinglisting of concert events 508, and a Theater category 510 and acorresponding listing of theater events 512. The user interface 500 alsocomprises a featured content area 514 which may comprise dynamic contentthat is relevant or related to the location and/or event criteria of theuser.

The user interface 500 comprises a date drop-down menu 516 for allowingthe user to change the time period (e.g., this week, today, thisweekend, next week, etc.) for displaying event listings and a changelocation link 518 for allowing the user to select a different locationfor displaying event listings. The user interface 500 also comprises aremove link 520 for allowing the user to remove the Sports category 502and/or the corresponding listing of sports events 504.

FIG. 6 illustrates a representation of a user interface 600 presented bya client-side web application for providing location-based upcomingevent information in accordance with various embodiments. With referenceto FIG. 1, the user interface 600 may be presented by a client-side webapplication installed as one or more of the client programs 106 on oneor more of the client devices 104. In one embodiment, the user interface600 may be presented by a client-side web application implemented withina web browser toolbar displayed on a client device (e.g., PC or mobiledevice). It can be appreciated that the embodiments are not limited tothis context or to this representation.

In this example, the user interface 600 may be presented after the userclicks the remove link 520 in the user interface 500. As shown, the userinterface 600 may comprise a pop-up window requesting the user toconfirm the deletion of the Sports category 502 and/or the correspondinglisting of sports events 504 from the user interface 500. If a userselects “Yes” in the user interface 600, the Sports category 502 and/orthe corresponding listing of sports events 508 will be removed from theuser interface 500.

FIG. 7 illustrates a representation of a user interface 700 presented bya client-side web application for providing location-based upcomingevent information in accordance with various embodiments. With referenceto FIG. 1, the user interface 700 may be presented by a client-side webapplication installed as one or more of the client programs 106 on oneor more of the client devices 104. In one embodiment, the user interface700 may be presented by a client-side web application implemented withina web browser toolbar displayed on a client device (e.g., PC or mobiledevice). It can be appreciated that the embodiments are not limited tothis context or to this representation.

In this example, the user interface 700 may be presented after the userclicks selects “Yes” in the user interface 600 of FIG. 6. As shown, theSports category 502 remains while the corresponding listing of sportsevents 508 has been removed. The user interface 700 comprises an addlink 702 for allowing the user to add the corresponding listing ofsports events 504 under the Sports category 502.

FIG. 8 illustrates a logic flow 800 including operations performed by acomputer executing a client-side web application to providelocation-based upcoming event information in accordance with variousembodiments. The logic flow 800 may be performed by various systemsand/or devices and may be implemented as hardware, software, firmware,and/or any combination thereof, as desired for a given set of designparameters or performance constraints. For example, the logic flow 800may be implemented by a logic device (e.g., computer and/or processor)and/or logic (e.g., computer executable program instructions) to beexecuted by a logic device.

As shown, the logic flow 800 may comprise determining a location of auser (block 810), generating a query based upon the location (block820), communicating the query to a network-based system (block 830),receiving a response to the query (block 840), and displayinglocation-based upcoming event information to the user (block 850). Itcan be appreciated that while the logic flow 800 may illustrate acertain sequence of steps, other sequences of steps may also beperformed in accordance with the described embodiments. Moreover, someindividual steps of the logic flow 800 may include multiple sub-stepsthat may be performed in various sequences as appropriate to theindividual step. Furthermore, additional steps may be added or somesteps may be removed depending on the particular implementation.

In various embodiments, one or more operations of the logic flow 800 maycomprise, or be implemented as, executable computer programinstructions. The executable computer program instructions may beimplemented by software, a software module, an application, a program, asubroutine, instructions, an instruction set, computing code, words,values, symbols or combination thereof. The executable computer programinstructions may include any suitable type of code, such as source code,compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamiccode, and the like. The executable computer program instructions may beimplemented according to a predefined computer language, manner orsyntax, for instructing a computer to perform a certain function. Theexecutable computer program instructions may be implemented using anysuitable programming language in accordance with the describedembodiments.

In various embodiments, one or more operations of the logic flow 800 maycomprise, or be implemented as, executable computer program instructionsstored in an article of manufacture and/or computer-readable storagemedium. The article and/or computer-readable storage medium may storeexecutable computer program instructions that, when executed by acomputer, cause the computer to perform methods and/or operations inaccordance with the described embodiments. The article and/orcomputer-readable storage medium may be implemented by various systemsand/or devices in accordance with the described embodiments.

The article and/or computer-readable storage medium may comprise one ormore types of computer-readable storage media capable of storing data,including volatile memory or, non-volatile memory, removable ornon-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writeable orre-writeable memory, and so forth. Examples of computer-readable storagemedia may include, without limitation, random-access memory (RAM),dynamic RAM (DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM(SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM(PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasableprogrammable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory (e.g., NOR or NAND flashmemory), content addressable memory (CAM), polymer memory (e.g.,ferroelectric polymer memory), phase-change memory, ovonic memory,ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS)memory, magnetic or optical cards, or any other suitable type ofcomputer-readable storage media in accordance with the describedembodiments.

Although some embodiments may be illustrated and described as comprisingexemplary functional components or modules performing variousoperations, it can be appreciated that such components or modules may beimplemented by one or more hardware components, software components,firmware components, and/or combination thereof.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, it may be appreciated that termssuch as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” or thelike, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computingsystem, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and/ortransforms data represented as physical quantities (e.g., electronic)within registers and/or memories into other data similarly representedas physical quantities within the memories, registers or other suchinformation storage, transmission or display devices.

It is worthy to note that some embodiments may be described using theexpression “coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. Theseterms are not intended as synonyms for each other. For example, someembodiments may be described using the terms “connected” and/or“coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physicalor electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, alsomay mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with eachother, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other. Withrespect to software elements, for example, the term “coupled” may referto interfaces, message interfaces, API, exchanging messages, and soforth.

While certain features of the embodiments have been illustrated asdescribed above, many modifications, substitutions, changes andequivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art. It is thereforeto be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all suchmodifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of theembodiments.

We claim:
 1. A system comprising: a memory storing interactive seat mapsfor different venues; and one or more hardware processors incommunication with the memory and configured to perform: determining alocation associated with a user; determining, based on the location,upcoming event information for one or more upcoming events; and causingto be displayed the upcoming event information via an interactive seatmap having interactive sections that display details of ticketsavailable in a user-selected section on a display of a computing deviceof the user.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the location is a currentlocation of the user.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the location isspecified by the user.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computingdevice is a mobile phone.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one ormore hardware processors is further configured to perform processing apurchase of a ticket for the one or more upcoming events by the userthrough the computing device.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein thetickets are offered by a plurality of ticket sellers.
 7. A methodcomprising: determining, by a hardware processor of a service provider,a location associated with a user; determining, by the hardwareprocessor and based on the location, upcoming event information for oneor more upcoming events; and causing to be displayed the upcoming eventinformation via an interactive seat map having interactive sections thatdisplay details of tickets available in a user-selected section on adisplay of a computing device of the user.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein the location is a current location of the user.
 9. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the computing device is a mobile phone.
 10. The methodof claim 7, wherein the displayed upcoming event information comprisesticket level details including section, row, and seat information. 11.The method of claim 7, further comprising causing to be displayed a mapillustrating one or more of an event venue location and a ticket pick-uplocation.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein the tickets are offered bya plurality of ticket seller platforms.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein each of the plurality of ticket seller platforms is shown to theuser on the display.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein for each of theplurality of ticket seller platforms, a number of tickets available anda price range of the tickets available are shown on the display.
 15. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising processing a purchase of a ticketfor the one or more upcoming events by the user through the computingdevice.
 16. A computer-readable storage medium comprising executablecomputer program instructions to enable a computer system to perform amethod comprising: determining a location associated with a user;determining, based on the location, upcoming event information for oneor more upcoming events; and causing to be displayed the upcoming eventinformation via an interactive seat map having interactive sections thatdisplay details of tickets available in a user-selected section on adisplay of a computing device of the user.
 17. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprisesreceiving an indication from the user through the computing device aselection of a desired upcoming event from the one or more upcomingevents.
 18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, whereinthe method further comprises processing a purchase of a ticket for thedesired upcoming event and notifying the user through the computingdevice.
 19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, whereinthe computing device is a mobile phone.
 20. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 16, wherein the tickets are offered by aplurality of different ticket seller platforms.